The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Pieris, botanically known as Pieris japonica, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Passion’.
The new Pieris is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Boskoop, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to create new Pieris varieties having upright inflorescences and attractive flower color.
The new Pieris originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in March, 1988, in Boskoop, The Netherlands, of an unnamed seedling selection of Pieris japonica, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with the Pieris japonica cultivar Valley Valentine, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Pieris was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Boskoop, The Netherlands in March 1999.
Asexual reproduction of the new Pieris by cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Boskoop, The Netherlands since 2000 has shown that the unique features of this new Pieris are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.